Animation

Sunday, 20 December 2009

I chose to look at this photographer mainly because of the still frame compositional aspect of his work. His photographs in many cases look like screen shot's from films and as such leave the viewer pondering on a multitude of questions. So I chose to look at photography so I could focus on composition and focus. By breaking down a good photograph I understand how and why aspects such as composition and lighting are used to enhance the image. I chose photography particularly as it greatly interests me, previously for looks but more recently for the technical skill involved.

What I like about this photo more than anything is the fact that as soon as you look at it you are a rush with hundreds of questions, as the composition and everything involved causes the viewer to think outside of the photograph. As soon as I saw the photo I was asking myself what this mans story was, who is he, where is, what has he done, why is he there, what is he thinking and so on.The way the photo is shot causes these questions and that is from the mans pose and position the luggage the open car door the weather (pathetic fallacy maybe) the location. All of these aspects cause me to draw up a story around this one still frame which I find amazing. To me the man is on the run from his failing marriage, which he didn't want to leave, and he is now coming to terms with what is happening in his life. He has been driving for around an hour or two and has come to a sleepy drive through town and has no where to go.The lighting in this piece is great as well as it pushes the character out at you whilst slowly diffuses into the dark void in the background.I also like the way that the perspective of the street and most of the cables point towards and then through the character into the background, causing the character to feel like hes on the road to nowhere.

I possibly don't like the vagueness of the image as almost too little information is provided to ascertain anything solid about the character and his identity and from loooking at other works of this artist it is a common theme. The lack of identity I find with the character can cause a certain distance but at the same time it has allowed my imagination to run freely through this image as im not being told what is actually happening.There is a strange spot light effect at the rear of the image where there doesn't seem to be a source, I know that the artist has used this light to cause the subject to distinguish from the background but to me it looks like there should be a UFO just out of shot above the street, perhaps there is?

Friday, 27 November 2009

so overall i believe that the project has been a great success as i set out to create two characters textured skinned and rigged and then animated in a short scene . As a whole the project has been an excellent learning curve as 90% of the learning has been done through tutorials, class mates and just experimenting with the software. im amazed at the fact that i was able to finish as last week i was bitching over the fact that i would never get it finished but through perseverance and a lot of coffee i managed to get everything done that i wanted to.now seeing the process a a whole i can understand why areas of the process are divided up in to separate jobs as each area needs a lot of care and a lot of time in order to get the best possible results.over the past 6 weeks i have gone from being scared of the controls and jobs in maya to now feeling really confident in what i am able to achieve with the program and im hungry to learn more :D

Thursday, 26 November 2009

iv managed to get a nice short animation done involving the two characters the zoo keeper is gunna clean up the poo when the kid comes running in chasing a fly then slips on the poo simple.im really surprised at how well i was able to use the rigs, but it just meant i had to be imaginative and start keying some of the bones in order to get the look i wanted. and i had great fun recording the voices and comping the sounds.

Wednesday, 25 November 2009

so i am probably a good half way through the animation but there is still lots to do i thought i would jus give a render to show progress, had loads of problems though such as the rigs not working exactly as i wanted them to so i have had to solve some issues. such as walking the characters have to walk on the spot then i have to move the master control to make them move,, not ideal if u ask me but it solved the problem .

im amazed with the speed at which i managed to skin and rig willie billiams. it took just a day for me to create the skeleton skin it paint weigths add ikhandles and add set driven keys, which previously with wee eck took around 3 weeks

Tuesday, 24 November 2009

so Wee Eck is finished finally rigged with eye controls, hand controls ( spread, curl and individual digits) reverse foot lock and locators there is also a handle to control the sporran.

after all the problems iv had im really happy with the final result. this character has been a huge learning curve for me and i have learnt so much as before this character i had never modelled, skinned, textured or rigged my own character.